Daily Archives: July, 23, 2007

If you remember, The John Doe Amendment was a provision in homeland security legislation that would have protected the public from being sued for reporting suspicious behavior that looked like it might lead to a terrorist attack.

Peter King and Rep. Steve Pearce, a New Mexico Republican, sponsored the provision after a group of Muslim imams filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against US Airways and unknown “John Doe” passengers. The imams were removed from US Airways Flight 300 on Nov. 20 after fellow passengers on the Minneapolis-to-Phoenix flight complained about the imams’ suspicious behavior.

It was killed in the Senate, last week, after House Republican John Boehner warned Democrats of a public backlash if the “John Doe” provision was removed.

“That language was put into this bill with broad bipartisan support making it clear that having Americans protected from silly lawsuits if they notice suspicious behavior and report it is just plain common sense,” Mr. Boehner said. “And why would they remove that language and I think they are asking for serious trouble if the language is in fact taken out.”

“Democrats have been backed into a corner by public outrage over their efforts, so we are seeing these Democrats publicly say they support it in principle, but behind the scenes they are working to kill it,” said one Republican leadership aide close to the conference process…

Some Republican aides are attributing the mounting pressure to support the provision to press reports and the blogosphere, where bloggers turned bloggyists are posting phone numbers of Democrat congressional leaders and urging readers to call in with their support.

“The blogs have been a terrific vehicle for expressing public outrage over Democratic attempts to kill this provision,” said a spokesman for [Peter] King.

The poor poor Democrats. What a pickle they’re in! We shined the light of truth on them, and they looked like the crap-weasels they are. So unfair!

Like this:

The part of the compound that was once an Islamic Girls’ school, is being demolished, because of the damage it incurred as a result if the seige. But the mosque, itself was in the process of being renovated, and is hoping to be re-opened by Friday, in time for traditional Islamic prayers.

From what I have been able to gather:
– The alliance of religious parties (MMA, for “Muttahidah Majlis-e Amal” meaning the “United Council of Action”) threatened that if the mosque were not opened on July 27, they would stage protests. One reason why the government is allowing the mosque to operate earlier than it would have liked.

– The color green is not arbitrary. Green is a color closely associated with Islam. The idea is to suggest that the mosque follows Islam closely.

– The person who will appoint the imam is the Prime Minister of Pakistan. The imam will be an employee of the Pakistani government. It seems that the imam will not belong to the Deobandi school of Islamic thought, the school that the previous management, so to speak, belonged to, due to the tendency of Deobandis to be troublesome. But a pro-government imam might be staunchly opposed by those who frequent the mosque.

So we will have to see what happens. Undoubtedly the government (and for that matter, the world) will be watching closely. What matter are:
– Who the new imam will be and what school of thought he is a part of
– How the new imam will be received by those who will frequent the mosque
– How the new imam will be received by the religious parties
– What al-Qa’idah will say about the new imam
– What the average Pakistani will think about the new imam